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Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Before I can get started embroidering again, I have some major cleaning up to do.

It's been about three years since I re-filed beads and threads for some of my major projects. I know it's not sexy but it has to be done.

The good news is that I'm opening drawers and cleaning out closets and uncovering lots of little treasures I haven't seen in a while.

Look what was wrapped in tissue on a back shelf in the closet of my sewing room...

It's a handmade box with the top embroidered in silk chenille on velvet and it's still in great condition. I have often admired antique samples of chenille embroidery but must admit to being challenged with using chenille myself.

That being said, the thread has a wonderfully rich texture and blends beautifully with velvet and other chenille threads. It's an underused and undervalued thread in our contemporary embroidery arsenal and I've always wanted to find more contemporary methods for using it.

On this box top, the chenille has aged such that both the nap of the velvet and the nap of the chenille thread blend seamlessly with one another...

Wool was used to stitch the daisies and I can see some padding underneath the flower in this picture where some of the wool has pulled away...

That makes sense since otherwise the wool stitches wouldn't lie as nicely and might get lost amongst the velvet's nap.

There are also a few variegated chenille threads and at least seven different shades of green and green/brown were used in the leaves and stems.

You can really see all the colors of the threads in this padded bud below...

I would have never thought to pile on the stitches in that way but the overall effect in the entire composition is stunning.

The interior of the box is finished beautifully and remains in very good condition...

What a stunning piece of handmade art. Do you have any inkling of its age or origin? It looks like it could be in a museum. Excellent photos. Thanks for sharing this wonderful piece of needle art history :)

Very pretty box. I sometimes use chenille in my crazy quilts but find it very difficult to pull through the fabric so I usually couch it onto the surface. I have also been doing some cleaning. Again, pretty box.

What a beautiful box, Susan. Can you tell how the chenille was stitched? My limited experience of chenille is that it shreds when taken through the fabric but from the photographs it appears that the chenille is stitched not couched.

It may be that each individual loop of chenille has been separately cut and the ends plunged. If the piece was always intended for the box top, the stitcher would have known the back would be padded and well-protected. Other than that, it could have been couched directly onto the velvet, or sewn through a coarsely-woven "slip" and then attached later. There are lots of possibilities to try, although I agree it is possibly the most challenging thread in our arsenal!

What a beautiful treasure you have Susan. The chenille is very intriguing - I have either never seen it, or walked by by whenever I am in the needlework threads section - it's wonderful for texture!I did a similar thing in my sewing room - cleaning, organizing, finding and purging - trying to make it possible to not just remember all that I have, but also to be ale to lay my hands on it when I need it - slowly I am getting there. It feels good to do that every so often and now I am ready to get into new things!

What a marvelous work, and how lucky you are to got it in such a perfect state! With the appropriate needle, it is perfectly possible to use the chenille for stem stitch or fly stitch without damaging it The "secret" is to use a very, very big needle, whihch makes a big hole in the fabric to allow the chenille to go through without pressure. The hole will be covered by the chenille when stitched. I think that here stem stitch was used. Would you have a picture of the top of the box? I am really tempted to copy that design, it is so gracious. But to find all those different chenille will be hard (the Thread Gatherer has some very nice colors).Benedicte